When Darragh Fitzgerald picks up the phone to chat on a recent morning, he has cameras filling his home and Kathryn Thomas due to call in for a catch up, but you'd never know it from speaking to him.
The Limerick man, who is one of five inspiration leaders on Operation Transformation 2024, sounds calm and relaxed, as though he grew up in showbiz.
"If someone said that to me two months ago, three months ago, I would have said, they're mad", he says about his home life at the moment. "Every Friday, Saturday, we go up to Athlone for a health check on Saturdays, in studio with the experts, and it's full on. But it's full on in a good way."
Still, he notes that at first he had his fair share of "reservations", wondering: "Do I need it or is there somebody out there who needs it more than I do?"
It's in line with how the former rugby player and coach approaches life in general. Diagnosed with Burkitt's, a rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma when he was just 16, and then with atrial Fibrillation just two years ago, Darragh has had to overcome many hurdles and takes doing so very seriously.
He's cautious of using the word "journey" to describe the experience so far, and is steadfastly matter of fact with how sometimes we just need to keep pushing on.
He traces it back to being diagnosed with cancer, at the same time as his father, saying: "When you're that age, and something is thrown in front of you like that, to me, you don't have a choice, you just have to get on with it.
"I didn't realise how sick I was until I see other people kind of going through what I went through. But again, I was very lucky."
"Once I get stuck into something, I kind of get engrossed in it", he explains, so when he came across the post inviting people to apply for Operation Transformation, he jumped at the chance. "I didn't tell anyone", he adds, not even his wife, Yvonne.
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"The first that Yvonne found out was two hours before both of us had to go on a Zoom call with one of the producers. So she didn't thank me for that."
Now, five weeks into the programme, Darragh is loving the routine and Yvonne has taken to the cameras "like a duck to water".
"My issue would have been like, if I was training hard for four or five, six weeks and I didn't see any results in the scales, I would have just kind of said, what's the point? But it's the complete opposite now. Every week I'm kind of dropping weight, which is great. I've never lost weight like this before."
After his first weigh-in, where he lost 12lbs in one week, Darragh was ovecome with emotions. "I wasn't emotional because I saw a number. The emotion there was kind of more of an affirmation of what I was doing was right. What the experts were telling me was right."
Fending for themselves once the cameras leave is a concern for many OT leaders, but Darragh has seen how that won't be the case. "From what I gather, it's complete opposite. We have WhatsApp groups with all the experts, a WhatsApp group with all the producers, and then from chats we've had in the last week or so, there's a fantastic aftercare team there for a couple of months after the show."
It seems ironic that someone with such resilience and drive would become so vocal about sadness and mental health on the show, but it also makes sense for the same reasons. Darragh has resonated with many viewers because of his willingness to open up and cry on camera, something that he says took him by surprise in some ways.
He recalls how a friend text him after seeing him get emotional on the show, noting how he never knew Darragh was "depressed". He says he's cautious around "labelling myself with the word 'depressed'", noting that he doesn't feel it always applies to him in his situation.
"I wasn't suffering, I just wasn't talking", he says. "I think it's okay for anyone in their 30s or actually, no matter what age they are, just to have a cry, no matter what age or what the situation is. I think it's good to kind of chat to someone."
Watch Operation Transformation every Wednesday on RTÉ One.
If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can contact: The Samaritans (phone 116123), or Pieta House (1800247247).
